Six Technologies That Hit Their Tipping Points in 2015

To the average person, it may seem that the biggest technology advances of 2015 were the larger smartphone screens and small app updates. But a lot more happened than that. A broad range of technologies reached a tipping point, from cool science projects or objects of convenience for the rich, to inventions that will transform humanity. We haven’t seen anything of this magnitude since the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. Here are the six:

1. The Internet and knowledge

In the developed world, we have become used to having devices that connect and inform us and provide services on demand, and the developing world has largely been in the dark. As of 2015, however, nearly half of China’s population and a fifth of India’s population have gained Internet connectivity. India now has more Internet users than does the U.S., and China has twice as many.

Smartphones with the capabilities of today’s iPhone will cost less than $50 by 2020. By then, the efforts of Facebook, Google, OneWeb, and SpaceX to blanket the Earth with inexpensive Internet access through drones, balloons, and microsatellites will surely bear fruit. This means that we will see another three billion people come on line. Never before has all of humanity been connected in this way.

This will be particularly transformative for the developing world. Knowledge has always been a privilege of the rich; tyrants rule by keeping their populations ignorant. Soon, everyone, everywhere, will have access to the ocean of knowledge on the Internet. They will be able to learn about scientific advances as they happen. Social media will enable billions of people to share their experiences and help one another. Workers in the remotest villages of Africa will be able to offer digital services to the elite in Silicon Valley. Farmers will be able learn how to improve crop yields; artisans will gain access to global markets; and economies based on smartphone apps will flourish everywhere.

2. Doctors in our pockets

All of this has been made possible by advances in computing and networks. In a progression called Moore’s Law, computers continually get faster, cheaper, and smaller, doubling in speed every 18 months. Our $100 smartphones are more powerful than the supercomputers of the 1970s—which cost millions of dollars. With faster computers, it becomes possible to design more powerful sensors and artificial-intelligence (A.I.) systems. With better sensors, we can develop sophisticated medical devices, drone-based delivery systems, and smart cities; and, with A.I., we can develop self-driving cars, voice-recognition systems, and digital doctors. Yes, I am talking about applications that can diagnose our medical condition and prescribe remedies.

In 2015, smartphone-connected medical devices came into the mainstream. Most notably, Apple released a watch that, using a heart-rate sensor and accelerometer, can keep track of vital signs, activity, and lifestyles. Through its free Research Kit app, Apple provided the ability to monitor, on a global scale, the use of medicines and their efficacy. Microsoft, IBM, Samsung, and Google too, as well as a host of startups, are developing sensors and A.I.-based tools to do the work of doctors. These technologies are expensive and geared for the developed world; but companies in China, India, and Africa are working on inexpensive versions. The sensors that these devices use, and the computing and storage that A.I. systems need cost very little. Previous generations of medical advances were for the rich; now all can benefit.

3. Bitcoin and disintermediation

One of the most controversial technology advances of late is Bitcoin, an unregulated and uncontrolled digital currency. It gained notoriety for its use by criminals and hackers and the fall of its price from a peak of about $1100 to $250. Yet, in 2015, it gained acceptance by retailers such as Overstock.com. And the technology that underlies it, blockchain, became the basis of hundreds of technology-development efforts.

The blockchain is not useful just for finance. It is an almost incorruptible digital ledger that can be used to record practically anything that can be digitized: birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, deeds and titles of ownership, educational degrees, medical records, contracts, and votes. It has the potential to transform the lives of billions of people who lack bank accounts and access to the legal and administrative infrastructure that we take for granted.

4. Engineering of life

Another technology that came into the mainstream was CRISPR gene modification. Discovered by scientists only a few years ago, CRISPRs are elements of an ancient system that protects bacteria and other single-celled organisms from viruses, acquiring immunity to them by incorporating genetic elements from the virus invaders. Via CRISPRs, DNA can be edited, either removing unwanted sequences or inserting payload sequences, the genetic and chemical components necessary costing as little as $100.

CRISPR modification introduces many new risks if used wrongly—to edit human embryos, for example. But it could also be used to correct faulty DNA that’s responsible for genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, and Alzheimer’s, and to edit the genes of plants to produce more-nutritious food and require less water. Labs all over the world are working with this technology to solve a wide range of problems, and we will see breakthroughs.

5. The drone age

It is estimated that Americans will have purchased nearly half a million drones during this holiday season. With the cost of these flying machines falling to less than $100, the drone age has officially begun. We will see them everywhere. As the technologies advance, these will carry increasing amounts of weight and travel over longer distances. You can expect Amazon and Walmart to deliver your groceries and Starbucks to bring you your morning latte via drone. And they will monitor traffic and crime, perform building inspections, and provide emergency assistance in disasters.

These are an even bigger deal for the developing world. Large sections of Africa don’t have roads; remote towns and villages can’t get medical supplies; and large cities are clogged with traffic—much of it for delivery of small goods. Drones will solve many of these infrastructure problems and reduce pollution and traffic. They will also allow the constant monitoring of the Earth’s changing climate and wildlife ecology.

6. Saving the planet with unlimited clean energy

The biggest geopolitical breakthrough in clean energy in 2015 wasn’t the climate agreement in Paris, between 196 countries, to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide. It was the deal that U.S. lawmakers struck to extend tax credits for solar and wind capture for another five years. The good intentions of nations will only take us so far; the U.S. deal will accelerate the progress of clean energy worldwide.

Solar and wind capture are already advancing on exponential curves, installation rates regularly doubling and costs falling. Even without the subsidies, the costs of U.S. solar installations could be halved by 2022, reducing the returns on investments in homes to less than four years. By, 2030, solar capture could provide 100 percent of today’s energy; by 2035, it could be free—just as cell-phone calls are today.

The tax credits for renewable energy generation will accelerate and ensure progress. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that the extension will add an extra 20 gigawatts of solar power—more than every panel ever installed in the U.S. prior to 2015. “The US was already one of the world’s biggest clean-energy investors. This deal is like adding another America of solar power into the mix,” Bloomberg said.

We are also seeing similar advances in battery storage. Combined with the advances in energy, large swaths of the planet that don’t presently have electricity have the potential to light up in the early 2020s. Having unlimited, clean energy will be transformative for the developing world—and the planet.

So we have a lot to be cheerful about and a lot to look forward to during the years ahead, as technology makes its major leaps forward. We just have to be careful to use it for bettering mankind rather than for holding it back—because there are as many risks as opportunities.

BLOOD MOONS OF 2014-15

After the appearance of the second Blood Moon and before the third Blood Moon there will be a total solar eclipse on March 20, 2015.

What is the prophetic significance of these Four Blood Moons?

To help answer this very important question, we must review the journey we have taken since the beginning of this book.

It is very rare that Scripture, science, and historical events align with one another, yet the last three Four Blood Moon series or Tetrads have done exactly that. Remember, several Tetrads have occurred in the past five hundred years; only three have corresponded to the Jewish Feasts as well as being linked to historical events significant to Israel. Seven more Tetrads will take place in the twenty-first century, however only one of these seven, the Tetrad of 2014-15, will align itself with the Feasts of the Lord.

What were the common denominators of 1492, 1949, and 1967? They all centered on significant events related to Israel and the Jewish people, and they occurred on the Feasts of the Lord, but what about the future?

. . . we can rightly conclude that the next series of Four Blood Moons of 2014 and 2015 will also hold significance for Israel and the Jewish people.

Each of the three previous series of Four Blood Moons began with a trail of tears and ended with triumph for the Jewish people.

. . .

As mentioned earlier, I believe that the heavens are God’s high-definition billboard. I believe that He has been sending signals and speaking to planet earth in the heavens since creation—we just haven’t considered the meaning of the signals.

It bears repeating the King David acknowledged the heavens were God’s billboard when he wrote:

The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech nor language

Where their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their words to the end of the worlds.

(PSALM 19:1-4)

. . .

Look at the word generation. When God was speaking to Abraham in Genesis 15, He labeled a generation as one hundred years. Some interpret the word generation in this passage as “race,” meaning the Jewish people.

. . .

THE KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION

. . .

My parents were born at a time when the majority of people still traveled by horse-drawn carriages just as King David. In fact, not much had changed in the way of technology since the time of my great-grandparents. There were no telephones, no television, no faxes, no Xerox machines, and no computers! People communicated in person by letter, and only when someone died would you receive a telegram.

However, times have changed! Within the last few decades technology has exploded to the point that one can use a mobile phone to speak to anyone in the world and send messages via email, text, Twitter, and Facebook. We log on to the information highway by means of the Internet allowing access to any search engine available. You can watch your favorite television programs and movies through devices that can fit in your coat pocket. We share pictures, videos, and news instantly! Daily, this technology exponentially increases—just think of the number of times that you purchased the latest gizmo and it became obsolete before you walked out of the store!

There is no doubt that we are the generation that has experienced the knowledge explosion, but does more knowledge produce wisdom?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

(PROVERBS 9:10)

THE BIRTH OF NUCLEAR WARFARE

. . .

The world still remembers the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were the only events in history where nuclear bombs were used in warfare. In the book of Revelation, John tells that four angels are going to be released to destroy one-third of the earth’s population in one day. Before hydrogen bombs this was not possible! Now the world has enough nuclear power owned by the nations of the world to kill everyone on planet earth twenty times over.

Iran, with its radical religious leadership, has promised to share nuclear weapons with terrorist organizations around the globe. If and when Iran becomes nuclear, it will threaten and destabilize Western civilization. Iran’s radical theology worships death, and a nuclear bomb will serve their theological concepts perfectly. . . .

THE COMING SHEMITTAH YEAR

. . . A Shemittah year occurs every seven years; it’s known as a time of rest of the land much like the Sabbath, which occurs every seven days, is a time of rest for man. While observing Shemittah guarantees abundance, neglecting it leads to judgment.

Every seven years we experience a Shemittah year in which God allows something to happen that gets our undivided attention whether we are ready or not! Just look at what happened in the last several Shemittah years:

* The Shemittah year of 1980: Saddam Hussein invaded Iran to signal the beginning of the Gulf War years.

* The Shemittah year of 1987: A supernova that could be seen by the naked eye for the first time since 1604 occurred. . . . That same year the U.S. stock market crashed.

* The Shemittah year of 1994: Yasser Arafat returns to the Middle East. A rare earthquake occurred in North America on the New Madrid fault line; it spanned the Midwest of the United States up to Canada.

* The Shemittah year of 2001: America was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists killing nearly three thousand Americans on 9/11. This day became America’s new day of infamy.

* The Shemittah year of 2008: America experienced a stock market crash on September 29 when the market fell 777 points in one day. It was the greatest one-day decline in the history of Wall Street.

Add seven years to 2008, and you have the year 2015, in which you also find the last two Four Blood Moons of 2014-15. . . .

We know that only three Tetrads have occurred in the last 500 years that are significant to Israel and also fall on the Jewish Feasts. We also know that these are the only Tetrads that have had a total solar eclipse somewhere within the series. The coming Tetrad in 2014-15 will also contain a total solar eclipse within its series. But what is different between the previous three Tetrads significant to Israel and the coming Tetrad?

Unlike the others, this series of Four Blood Moons contains a Shemittah year beginning September 25, 2014, and concluding on September 13, 2015. Astoundingly, this Shemittah year will begin on the first day of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) of 2014 and conclude on the following celebration of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) in 2015. Follow this phenomenon:

* The occurrence of a lunar eclipse is common.

* The occurrence of a total lunar eclipse is less common.

* The occurrence of a Tetrad or four consecutive Blood Moons (total lunar eclipses) is rare.

* The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse within its series is very rare.

* A Tetrad with a total solar eclipse that is significant to Israel’s history and the Jewish Feasts is very, very rare.

* The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse historically significant to Israel and Jewish Feasts that includes a Shemittah year within its series is very, very, very rare.

* But a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse, historically significant to Israel and falling on the Jewish Feast with a Shemittah year that corresponds with the Feast of Trumpets (the Jewish New Year) within its series is astronomically rare.

. . .

A TARGET FOR TERRORISTS

. . .

The coming Four Blood Moons are aligning themselves, the next Shemittah year is nearing, the sages of old have foretold of events past and those to come, the enemies of Israel are surrounding the Land of Covenant once again, the signs of the terminal generation are complete. . . .

ARE YOU READY?

The fourth series of Four Blood Moons is coming! They are extremely rare even by scientific standards. God is shouting to us, “Something big is about to happen!” . . .

What they are telling us is that God is getting ready to change the course of human history once again [akin to the secular monolith in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey? –SB]. He is preparing to display the next series of signs in the heavens. What is going to happen?

. . .

Watch and pray! Be prepared, . . . The Church is soon to leave the world. We are seeing signs of the end of this age.

It’s 9:45 pm, and I’m at my studio in Englewood, Colorado. I’m having a can of beer. A good one. A Colorado-brewed Scotch Ale. It’s not past my bedtime anymore because I’m past the age of having to be parented. In fact, my parents are deceased. I’m also past the age of caring. Well, I do care some. Only about certain things and about certain people. Right now, there may be a full moon that’s beautifully set in the evening sky above me. Set like a jewel of some celestial, unworldly kind. (Did I mention I’m a poet? Maybe not one of the fine caliber of Frank Messina, but as I stand and breath, I say to this night sky that I am poet.) If it’s not a full moon, then it’s very close. Close enough. I care about the moon. If the moon disappeared suddenly, I would worry. It’s always moving, but it always comes back. People don’t always come back, but I can depend on the moon.

I’m sitting in a folding chair now with the flag of Texas for the cloth part. I hope it’s not a sin of some kind for having my ass set upon a replica of the state of Texas. Would this be like mooning Texas? Doh! I grew up in Texas, so maybe that makes it okay for me. My parents, paternal grandparents and paternal great-grandparents are all buried outside of a small town in the Texas Panhandle, so I say that gives me the privilege to have my ass thus set. It’s nice to have privilege of some kind. I was schooled in Texas through my twenty-fourth year. I consider that a fine privilege. I can depend on that education I received, even if my abilities at humor still sometimes are called into question.

I’m rambling, probably because of the good beer that I’m drinking. A lot of rambling goes on in Texas, but that’s another story. I’m in Colorado now where there’s a whole lot of good beer. It’s late, and the moon is very nice to look at as I type this in my folding chair outside of my studio. There’s very little wind. It’s kind of balanced between warm and cool and feels just fine.

The real reason I’m writing this is because of the poem I wrote and posted recently titled, alchemist, which I think is pretty good, thank you. In fact, I can’t stop feeling it. My hope is that those who read it won’t stop feeling it either. It was written to be felt until one’s last breath is taken. I, for one, have decided that I will.

My aunt’s last breath was taken just last month, less than twenty-four hours after I laughed with her in her hospital room, then pretended to reach out to shake her warm, frail hand when I had to go. She looked down at my hand kind of funny, then smiled when she understood my stupid joke of shaking her hand instead of hugging her. I leaned over, hugged her and kissed her on her right cheek. That was that last time I saw her, and I’m intensely glad that we got to laugh together those last moments.

My cousins and her grandchildren were in the room with her when her breath stopped, and they described it for me later. A long time ago, I was in a hospital room when my paternal grandfather took his last breath. I know of the experience and feel strongly that I can speak of it: that final “peace which passeth all understanding.” We will all experience that final breath, that final peace that has nothing at all to do with books or words, even Biblical words, or knowledge or understanding of any kind. And we will all take that peace to the great beyond. Better to be laughing sweetly than living bitter.

I’d like to try to explain my poem, alchemist, only a little, because poems, like some things, are not supposed to be explained but instead felt, taken deep inside. I truly do want you to take this poem inside, which I myself will take to the grave with me.

This poem can be taken as a recipe or a prayer or both. I see it as both. It can be taken in an Eastern traditional way or a Western traditional way. I see it as both.

A “Flight For Life” just flew over because a hospital is only a block away. Critically injured people are taken to and from there all the time, so I always make a sign of the cross when the helicopter flies over. I can usually see bright lights on in the copters and paramedics’ heads along with their red vests because they’re so close in the air above me. They’re very loud and always capture my attention whatever I’m doing at the moment. But, back to the poem.

alchemist is at its heart simply about the act of meditation. One takes in a deep breath of air. It mixes with one’s inner energy, one’s “khi.” The “pluses and minuses,” or the goods and bads, or sacreds and evils or positives and negatives within are balanced. When one holds a breath in, it’s like an expanding inner strength, a balanced rainbow of bright light, radiating outwards beyond the flesh, an “aura.” (Hang in here with me. Don’t “New Age” out on me.) When one empties the balanced breath outward, the experience of “peace which passeth all understanding,” from either the final line of T.S. Eliot’s poem, The Waste Land, or earlier, from Philippians 4:7, takes its place. This is the recipe, or prayer: khi + aura = peace which passeth all understanding.

Try it right now. “Breathe deep the gathering gloom, watch lights fade from every room…” Doh! Sorry, I accidentally channeled The Moody Blues just then. Seriously, though, take a deep breath, feel the air and energy balancing the crap in your life down into the good in your life, feel the energy expand outward as if becoming an aura radiating out from your flesh, let the breath out and then feel the peace. It’s just a breath for God’s sake! We all do it. We have to in order to breathe. It’s not that you do it. It’s how you do it.

This is a recipe or prayer which cooks one from within in order that one may be ready to be served to others. How can an unprepared or uncooked meal be served to others? It would be an insult, in the least. Being properly cooked brings one to be brightened. Properly serving oneself to others is cause for laughter (and of course it’s a nice privilege to be served as well). You can always tell when one is underprepared or undercooked by what a bummer they are to be around. Yep. Too much minus and not enough plus:

“Hay, how ya doin’ there partner?”

“Just peachy, thanks. Doin’ just peachy.”

“Yeah, well you might just tell that to your face.”

You know the kind.

One’s outer form is imposed on them whether liked or not. A turkey is a turkey. A pig is a pig. A big nose is a big nose. Plastic surgeons aren’t really hiding anything. What matters is that the “peace which passeth all understanding “ is prepared within so that it can then be served beyond. Beyond the flesh. Beyond the form.

There are other feelings in the poem which are personal to me. I won’t share those. They’re for my contentment alone. But the recipe/prayer is for all. It’s so simple. Take the air into your energy. Balance out the shit that media satellites constantly feed you with the good that’s there to be found by just turning the channel in another direction–like towards that very bright moon shining above, or to the Flight For Life helicopters that are so good for reasons that don’t have to be explained to anyone with family or friends.

In a way, the whole thing is like a refrigerator. Unless it’s consistently plugged in, the cold will very soon become warm, and the food will stink. The closest scientific term is entropy. Unless you regularly follow the recipe/prayer, the minus will always overtake the plus just like the warm will always overtake the cold. Regarding alchemist, one needs to stay plugged in for as often as possible to overpower the minus enough to balance the two.

Here’s the most important point. One can never eliminate the minuses in life. They’re there as sure as a big nose is there, or a pig or a turkey. The minus has to be cooked through with the plus to reach a balance. Anything more would be overcooking, or charring. Life has minuses whether one likes it or not. The very best you can do is to obtain balance–regularly, until it becomes a habit.

Many people consider meat to be bad, but I can tell you from having grown up in Texas that finely prepared chicken-fried steaks or barbeque ribs or T-bone cuts of steak are as well-balanced a meal as one can ever find. Although, the “peace which passeth understanding” is many times followed afterwards by an early bedtime with much snoring.

It’s now 11 pm, and the burritos I ate earlier, along with the good beer, are having a similar effect. A natural effect. The pluses and minuses in life are plentiful and natural. Today, and in the days to come, the minuses will, I believe, become even more plentiful. It makes it even more vital to do whatever one can to balance the two, to stay plugged in.

Khi + Aura = Peace which passeth all understanding. That ultimate peace will only be found in death and then taken beyond, but in life, it can and should be encouraged within–to the max–at all times, and then also taken beyond oneself, into your family, friends and the world at large.

Before being served to others, one must be properly cooked. That is the alchemy from the alchemist that turns something base into something of value. That is the Khi, the Aura and the Shantih, Shantih, Shantih. And, this is where I wish to end my prayer before bedtime overtakes me at last and leads me to warm dreams of a cooked Steve that brightly laughs and dances with the alchemist in the companionable moonlight with good beers. Doh!